Travelers and Foodies Advice? Rome.

[PorscheGAL]

With such a well travelled group I thought I would throw this out:

My family: husband, 10yr old son, and Myself are planning a trip to Rome, Italy. Our first time. We typically travel with a pocket map and walk the cities we visit with no real plans or itineraries.

For you guys that have been there: What is your list of must see or eat?

TIA

[Don Plumley]

We are like you, we like to walk cities and see what we see. My best advice is to go buy the Rick Steves Guide to Rome - best simple breakdown of what to see, what's not I've read. He has a series of simple walking tours that are fantastic. Once I read the tour, I throw the book in my bag just in case and walk the general route. It's nice to have a bit of background of what you are seeing and helpful to explain to your son.

Get a Roma Pass - there's a special short line to get into the Colliseum, off to the left side of the big line. Will save you an hour.

Rome is a big tourist city, do don't fool yourself that you'll discover the one restaurant that tourists don't go to. But in the Rick Steves book he lists smaller places that are not tourist factories (remember, avoid anything that advertises "English Menu" in the window). We found a great spot for dinner in the Piazza Narvona IIRC - they have a open market during the day. Great gelato everywhere, try the dulce la leche. We enjoyed pizza at the many sidewalk cafes during the day and just watched the world walk buy. Note how easy it is to spot the American and UK tourists. Ugh.

For the Vatican which was pretty impressive, we splurged and hired a private guide. That was really helpful and we are so glad we did as he helped us navigate through crowds, pointed out all the cool stuff, history, etc. My kids really enjoyed it that way, otherwise it would have been a slog.

The Bath of Agrippa were a waste of time. I enjoyed the collesium a lot more than I thought I would, but the Forum was a little underwhelming (but you need to see it). I liked the Trevi fountain at day and night, but it was crowded. Pantheon was neat, as are most of the name brand sites. Here's an example of a Rick Steves narrative and a note about kids.

IMHO, looking at the Spanish Steps, you need to know the story about what you are looking at to see something other than steps covered with tourists. So that's where a great guidebook comes in handy (in advance) for helping you and your kid get the most out of the day.

Enjoy, and if I can answer any questions, please let me know.

Don

[imcarthur]

Stephanie

We have been there twice as tourists. You can read my latest travel report - last summer - on my travel site:

See Roma

Some quick takes:

The Vatican is stunning. Must sees are San Pietro itself - make sure you climb the dome. The museum - busy, crowded & horrible but a must see. The scavi tour - must be booked well in advance - was very cool.

Borghese Gallery - one of the best collections of art in Roma. Must be booked ahead.

Forum - a confusing jumble of ruins that are fun to walk but to really understand them, you have to do some research.

Trevi, Spanish Steps, Pantheon etc etc - all easily walkable, crowded & must sees.

Restaurants: see my report for some suggestions.

Ian

[vash]

watch the pick pockets. they are running wild there.

ROME wasnt my fav when it came to food...but the city was so much fun. food was expensive. rome is a short train ride to cinco terra (i bet i just massacred the spelling of that)...THAT IS A SUPER FUN PLACE to eat.

[Don Plumley]

Thanks for reminding me Ian - here are our pictures from our trip to Rome in 07. The middle section has an excursion to Greece and the Amalfi coast, then more Rome stuff.

[jtfreels]

Can't disagree with Ian (I looked at his Roma link, we where in Rome the same week )

I loved the Pantheon area, basically we just picked a restaurant. I'd go back to Rome at the drop of a hat but especially for the gelato at San Crispino near the Trevi Fountain and the espresso and espresso granita at Tazza D Oro near the Pantheon.
I could make any walk in Rome include those two locations

What area of Rome are you staying in?

Jay

[vash]

first time i ate anchovies, not from a jar.

[imcarthur]

Vash: I believe you mean the Cinque Terre & it is well removed from Roma - northwest of Tuscany. Certainly not a day trip.

Don: Nice pictures (and family)

I am glad we went to Roma, but we will not be going back except to drive out to other parts of Italy . . .

Earlier report 2002 First Time in Roma

View from San Pietro dome:



Ian

[vash]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Vash: I believe you mean the Cinque Terre & it is well removed from Roma - northwest of Tuscany. Certainly not a day trip.


[
Ian

it's a long day trip..maybe better for an overnight deal.

[PorscheGAL]

Thanks everyone.

We are staying near the Colosseum in the Hotel Gladiatori. I loved the idea of the roof top bar over looking the ruins on Nero's Golden Palace and the Colosseum.

As for pick pockets: we tend to carry as little as possible when traveling only in front pockets. Dealt with that on previous trip to Paris.

We are going to be there for 4 days. I was thinking of seeing the city in 4 areas: Ancient Rome (Colosseum and Forum), Vatican and Castel Sant Angelo, Pantheon and Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps and Borgese area.

Wow, the pictures, Don, Ian and Vash, you guys are making me more anxious. I am excited.

Ian- Great reports. I will probably read through them several times.

I imagine by the time the trip is over we sample at least half the gelato in Rome, since we are traveling with a 10 year old.

[vash]

mmm gelato.



and be sure to drink some grappa! i hate the stuff.




75% of my travel pics, have booze in them.

[PorscheGAL]

MMM Gelato. That looks great. Son is now very excited after seeing that picture. Wants to know how often I'll let him have it on the trip.

As for booze: I see it like food. I am on Vacation. I will taste everything.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

MMM Gelato.

When it is scorching in Roma, nothing . . . and I repeat, nothing . . . beats a limone gelato.

Ian

[Bill Douglas]

Good first step asking these guys, nest step is Lonely Planet Italy - lotsa of Rome stuff. Eat everything

And enjoy. Maybe one of the nicest places on earth.

[Crowbob]

McDonalds. Seriously. No joke. The McDonalds in Rome is world famous. Three floors of exquisite marble floors, frescos, statuary, etc. Hostesses, table after table of salad bars. Bottom floor is a gelato shop. One of the bussiest restaurants in Rome. The kids will love it. If I recall, it's not very far from the Spanish Steps.

[imcarthur]

Travel Resources:

Imho . . . the very best resource imho is the Foder’s Travel Talk – Europe. Mainly real travelers as opposed to the tour group crowd. I have been reading & posting there for over ten years. The posted Trip Reports, a searchable forum, it is an amazing database of travel info from real travelers of all types. Like Pelican Tech, you can search on the most remote place or obscure restaurant & somebody has been there & done that.

See Fodor’s

Frommers also has an active Europe Forum. Not as old or established as Fodor’s. Travelers To Go is an offshoot of Fodor’s regulars. Lonely Planet’s Forum pales in comparison to Fodor’s & historically tends to appeal to the backpack ground.

Trip Advisor is another – of course – but it is best viewed with a grain of salt. There is no consistency & you always get wildly divergent opinions of things. Their ranking system is very misleading – at best. Chowhounds is interesting for pure eats.

I have always found that the planning is an integral part of my fun in traveling for pleasure.

Pickpockets: No place is immune. In any major city anywhere, you have to be vigilant with wallets, purses, cameras etc. Especially on subways & trains & anywhere in a crowd.

The Spanish Steps & Trevi Fountain are both invented tourist sites & serious tourist traps with lots of hustlers. Do not accept a rose from one of the dudes at the Trevi unless you intend to pay for it . . .

Ian

[stuartj]

Rome is fantastic (if only they'd knock down all that old stuff) and regional Italy is worthy of a lifetim of exploration. Great advice here- I'll only add by way of caution- watch out for the gypsies on the approaches to some of the big tourist areas, ie the Colleseum. If you find yourself being distracted - say by having a baby thrown to you- watch out.

[imcarthur]

But what do you do when the gypsies use the baby throwing trick?

You just catch the baby and sell it later.

Ian

[PorscheGAL]

Well, we are back from the trip. This is the view from the roof top of our hotel.



By far one of my favorite places I have ever visited.

A restaurant we greatly enjoyed was the Ducati Restaurant. It had great food and excellent service. Very packed with locals. No English menu but the staff worked very hard to help us with that.

Now a question: We had a dish with Speck in it. Where do I get this? Having a hard time finding it online. Not likely I will find in our town.


This was a mushroom and ricotta ravioli with tomato and speck sauce.

[TimT]

Speck is similar to Proscuitto

I Know place in NYC where you can buy Speck, but they are not mail order friendly... The link above is a source I found online

edit.... the link is in NYC but not a walk in store